User:Tanmoutl/sandbox

Peer Review:

I think that the information that you provided for this wikipedia page does a great job in adding to the story of Tituba. This isn't the most in depth article to start with so the information you've chosen to add provides not only more depth to her background, but also to the type of experience she would have had during her trial and captivity. The information you provide about what her early life might have looked like also help show where she might have found some of the practices that would have been considered witchcraft in her new home. For an article so thin I think you did a good job of adding relevant information that helps us to better understand the worthy woman you chose. I also enjoyed the in class presentation that you did! You seemed to have all of your information well put together, and it did well to make me more interested and well informed on the woman you chose.

Tituba Article edits

Tituba's husband was John Indian, an Indigenous man whose origins are unknown, but he may have been from Central or South America. Tibitó Colombia to be precise. It is said she was named for her town or tribe. Tituba may have originally been from Barbados. ^^^^^ Many historians such as Elaine Breslaw and Charles Upham gathered that Tituba was a Native American from Samuel Fowler's writing, "Account of the life of Samuel Parris" Tituba might have originally been a part of the Arawak-Guiana native South American tribe. While there is no physical evidence to prove this, it is believed that she was taken from her tribe and forced into the slave trade in Barbados where she was sold to the Thompson plantation where she was the family cook as most Native American slaves were. As Tituba interacted with a diverse group of people in Barbados, it is assumed that's is where she picked up most of her knowledge about witchcraft through mistresses and other slaves. Once the head of the Thompson plantation died, Tituba was inherited by Samuel Parris and was then brought to Massachusetts. ===== The often unreliable records of the enslaved persons origins makes this information difficult to verify. There are historians such as Samuel Drake who suggest that Tituba was African. Her husband went on to become one of the accusers in the Witch Trials. They appear documented together in Samuel Parris's church record book.

Other women and men from surrounding villages were accused of witchcraft and arrested at the Salem witchcraft trials. ^^^^^ Tituba was allowed to speak against her accusers despite what race they were because it was not illegal for slaves to be able to give testimony in court.===== Not only did Tituba accuse others in her confession, but she talked about black dogs, hogs, a yellow bird, red and black rats, cats, a fox and a wolf. Tituba talked about riding sticks to different places. She confessed that Sarah Osborne possessed a creature with the head of a woman, two legs, and wings. Since it mixed various perspectives on witchcraft, Tituba's confession confused listeners, and its similarities to certain stock tropes of demonology caused some Salem Village residents to believe that Satan was among them. ^^^^^ Tituba used these outlandish accusations to not only stir confusion among Massachusetts residents but also to displace punishment and or death that could have been projected onto her. By deflecting attention, she saved her life and her reputation was recognized as being a credible witness. Tituba must have been aware that she couldn't hide from the accusations made against her due to certain prejudices against her ethnicity. She claimed not to be a witch and denied that accusation against her despite her use of occult practices, admitting that the devil visited her and Parris' determination to find her guilty. Her confession and accusations not only served as a scapegoat but also a new form of entertainment to the residents of Salem as they experienced possessions because of her words. =====

After the trials, Tituba remained^^^^^ in the Boston jail whose conditions were very poor for thirteen months===== because Samuel Parris refused to pay her jail fees. In April of 1693, Tituba was sold to an unknown person for the price of her jail fees. In an interview with Robert Calef for his collection of papers on the trials, titled More Wonders of the Invisible World: Being an Account of the Trials of Several Witches, Lately Executed in New-England, Tituba confirmed that Parris had beaten a confession out of her and then coached her in what to say and how to say when first questioned.